There exists a unique class of local Higher Spin Gravities with propagating massless fields in $4d$ - Chiral Higher Spin Gravity. Originally, it was formulated in the light-cone gauge. We construct a covariant form of this theory as a Free Differential Algebra up to NLO, i.e. at the level of equations of motion. It also contains the recently discovered covariant forms of the higher spin extensions of SDYM and SDGR, as well as SDYM and SDGR themselves. From the mathematical viewpoint the result is equivalent to taking the minimal model (in the sense of $L_\infty$-algebras) of the jet-space extension of the BV-BRST formulation of Chiral Higher Spin Gravity, thereby, containing also information about (presymplectic AKSZ) action, counterterms, anomalies, etc.
We construct chiral N=1 gauge theories in 4D by compactifying the 6D Blum-Intriligator (1,0) theories of 5-branes at $A_k$ singularities on $T^2$ with a nontrivial bundle of the global U(1) symmetry of these theories.
We use the method due to Batalin, Fradkin and Tyutin (BFT) for the quantization of chiral boson theories. We consider the Floreanini-Jackiw (FJ) formulation as well as others with linear constraints.
I derive a procedure to count chiral primary states in N=1 superconformal field theories in four dimensions. The chiral primaries are counted by putting the N=1 field theory on S^3 X R. I also define an index that counts semi-short multiplets of the superconformal theory. I construct N=1 supersymmetric Lagrangians on S^3 X R for theories which are believed to flow to a conformal fixed point in the IR. For ungauged theories I reduce the field theory to a supersymmetric quantum mechanics, whereas for gauge theories I use chiral ring arguments. I count chiral primaries for SU(2) SYM with three fl…
We construct the chiral Wess-Zumino term as a solution for the Batalin-Vilkovisky master equation for anomalous two-dimensional gauge theories, working in an extended field-antifield space, where the gauge group elements are introduced as additional degrees of freedom. We analyze the Abelian and the non-Abelian cases, calculating in both cases the BRST generator in order to show the physical equivalence between this chiral solution for the master equation and the usual (non-chiral) one.
It was recently understood that one can identify a chiral algebra in any four-dimensional N=2 superconformal theory. In this note, we conjecture the full set of generators of the chiral algebras associated with the T_n theories. The conjecture is motivated by making manifest the critical affine module structure in the graded partition function of the chiral algebras, which is computed by the Schur limit of the superconformal index for T_n theories. We also explicitly construct the chiral algebra arising from the T_4 theory. Its null relations give rise to new T_4 Higgs branch chiral ring relat…
The CPT anomaly, which was first seen in perturbation theory for certain four-dimensional chiral gauge theories, is also present in the exact result for a class of two-dimensional chiral U(1) gauge theories on the torus. Specifically, the chiral determinant for periodic fermion fields changes sign under a CPT transformation of the background gauge field. There is, in fact, an anomaly of Lorentz invariance, which allows for the CPT theorem to be circumvented.
We find the complete chiral ring relations of the supersymmetric U(N) gauge theories with matter in adjoint representation. We demonstrate exact correspondence between the solutions of the chiral ring and the supersymmetric vacua of the gauge theory. The chiral ring determines the expectation values of chiral operators and the low energy gauge group. All the vacua have nonzero gaugino condensation. We study the chiral ring relations obeyed by the gaugino condensate. These relations are generalizations of the formula $S^N=Λ^{3N}$ of the pure ${\cal N} =1$ gauge theory.
We study chiral SU(N) supersymmetric gauge theories with matter in the antifundamental and antisymmetric representations. For SU(5) with two families, we show how to reproduce the non-perturbatively generated superpotential, and we discuss dynamical supersymmetry breaking purely in terms of the Konishi anomaly. We apply the same technique in general to SU(N) with one family. We also briefly comment on the chiral ring for these theories.
We use type IIB brane configurations which were recently suggested by Hanany and Zaffaroni to study four dimensional N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories. We calculate the one loop beta function and realize Seiberg's duality using a particular configuration. We also comment on the anomaly cancelation condition in the case of chiral theories and the beta function in the case of chiral and SO/Sp theories.
We make a comparative study of chiral-boson theories in the Florenani-Jackiw (FJ) and linear constraint formulations. A special attention is given to the case with an improved way of implementing the linear constraint. We show that it has the same spectrum of the FJ formulation.
We use the Konishi anomaly equations to construct the exact effective superpotential of the glueball superfields in various N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories. We use the superpotentials to study in detail the structure of the spaces of vacua of these theories. We consider chiral and non-chiral SU(N) models, the exceptional gauge group G(2) and models that break supersymmetry dynamically.
We present evidence for renormalization group fixed points with dual magnetic descriptions in fourteen new classes of four-dimensional $N=1$ supersymmetric models. Nine of these classes are chiral and many involve two or three gauge groups. These theories are generalizations of models presented earlier by Seiberg, by Kutasov and Schwimmer, and by the present authors. The different classes are interrelated; one can flow from one class to another using confinement or symmetry breaking.
We study low-energy dynamics of three-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ $SU(N)$ "chiral" gauge theories with $F$ fundamental and $\bar{F}$ anti-fundamental matters without a Chern-Simons term. Compared to a naive semi-classical analysis of the Coulomb branch, its quantum structure is highly richer than expected due to so-called "dressed" Coulomb branch (monopole) operators. We propose dualities and confinement phases for the "chiral" $SU(N)$ theories. The theories with $N>F > \bar{F}$ exhibit spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. The very many Coulomb branch operators generally remain exactly massless…
We show that the recently constructed higher-derivative 6D SYM theory involves an internal chiral anomaly breaking gauge invariance. The anomaly is cancelled when adding to the theory an adjoint matter hypermultiplet.
Chiral Higher Spin Gravity with cosmological constant is constructed as a Free Differential Algebra, i.e. at the level of equations of motion, which is a smooth deformation of its flat space cousin arXiv:2205.07794. Chiral Higher Spin Gravity is a unique class of local higher spin theories; its very existence implies that there is a closed and, most likely, integrable sub-sector of Chern-Simons Matter Theories, which has important consequences both for the theories themselves and for three-dimensional bosonization duality.
We introduce a general method in order to construct the non chiral fusion rules which determine the operator content of the operator product algebra for rational conformal field theories. We are particularly interested in the models of the complementary D-like solutions of modular invariant partition functions with cyclic center Zn. We find that the non chiral fusion rules have a Zn-grading structure.
We extend the Wilson renormalization group (RG) formulation to chiral gauge theories and show that local gauge symmetry can be implemented by a suitable choice of the RG flow boundary conditions. Since the space-time dimension is four, there is no ambiguity in handling the matrix $\g_5$ and left and right fermions are not coupled. As a result the ultraviolet action contains all possible globally chiral invariant interactions. Nevertheless, the correct chiral anomaly is reproduced.
We study the connection of Moyal deformations of self-dual gravity and self-dual Yang-Mills theory to chiral higher-spin theories, and also to deformations of operator algebras in celestial holography. The relation to Moyal deformations illuminates various aspects of the structure of chiral higher-spin theories. For instance, the appearance of the self-dual kinematic algebra in all the theories considered here leads via the double copy to vanishing tree-level scattering amplitudes. Regarding celestial holography, the Moyal deformation of self-dual gravity was recently shown to lead to the loop…
By generalizing a fermionic construction, a natural relation is found between SL(2) degenerate conformal field theories and some N=2 discrete superconformal series. These non-unitary models contain, as a subclass, N=2 minimal models. The construction permits one to investigate the properties of chiral operators in the N=2 models. A chiral ring reveals a close connection with underlying quantum group structures.
The partition function and the order parameter for the chiral symmetry breaking are computed for a family of 2-dimensional interacting theories containing the gauged Thirring model. In particular we derive non-perturbative expressions for the dependence of the chiral condensate on the temperature and the curvature. Both, high temperature and high curvature supress the condensate exponentially and we can associate an effective temperature to the curvature.
We show that the recently found covariant formulation for chiral $p$--forms in $2(p+1)$ dimensions with $p$ even, can be naturally extended to supersymmetric theories. We present the general method for writing covariant actions for chiral bosons and construct, in particular, in six dimensions covariant actions for one tensor supermultiplet, for pure supergravity and for supergravity coupled to an arbitrary number of tensor supermultiplets.
We show that a large class of physical theories which has been under intensive investigation recently, share the same geometric features in their Hamiltonian formulation. These dynamical systems range from harmonic oscillations to WZW-like models and to the KdV dynamics on $Diff_oS^1$. To the same class belong also the Hamiltonian systems on groups of maps. The common feature of these models are the 'chiral' equations of motion allowing for so-called chiral decomposition of the phase space.
We consider a general brane construction for realizing chiral four-dimensional gauge theories. The advantage of the construction is the simplicity and the possibility of realizing a large class of models existing in the literature. We start the study of these models by determining the matter content and the superpotential which naturally arise in the brane construction.
Using cohomological methods we discuss several issues related to chiral anomalies in noncommutative U(N) YM theories in any even dimension. We show that for each dimension there is only one solution of the WZ consistency condition and that there cannot be any reducible anomaly, nor any mixed anomaly when the gauge group is a product group. We also clarify some puzzling aspects of the issue of the anomaly when chiral fermions are in the adjoint representation.
We analyze the large $N$ spectrum of chiral primary operators of three dimensional fixed points of the renormalization group. Using the space-time picture of the fixed points and the correspondence between anti-de Sitter compactifications and conformal field theories we are able to extract the dimensions of operators in short superconformal multiplets. We write down some of these operators in terms of short distance theories flowing to these non-trivial fixed points in the infrared.
We confront Cardy's suggested c-function for four-dimensional field theories with the spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetries in asymptotically free vectorlike gauge theories with fermions transforming according to different representations under the gauge group. Assuming that the infrared limit of the c-function is determined by the dimension of the associated Goldstone manifold, we find that this c-function always decreases between the ultraviolet and infrared fixed points.
The exact operator solutions of two-dimensional anomaly-free chiral abelian gauge theories are obtained. We show that anomaly-cancellation conditions arise as consistency requirements of these solutions. For a certain class of flavour symmetries, fermion condensates are constructed. These are shown to violate the fermion-number conservation rule. The models are extended to include massive fermions. We propose a bosonised lagrangian for the massive theory and verify that it complies with the Gupta-Bleuler condition.
This article gives a review of the topic of regularising chiral gauge theories and is aimed at a general audience. It begins by clarifying the meaning of chirality and goes on to discussing chiral projections in field theory, parity violation and the distinction between vector and chiral field theories. It then discusses the standard model of electroweak interactions from the perspective of chirality. It also reviews at length the phenomenon of anomalies in quantum field theories including the intuitive understanding of anomalies based on the Dirac sea picture as given by Nielsen and Ninomiya.…
We study general perturbations of two-dimensional conformal field theories by holomorphic fields. It is shown that the genus one partition function is controlled by a contact term (pre-Lie) algebra given in terms of the operator product expansion. These models have applications to vertex operator algebras, two-dimensional QCD, topological strings, holomorphic anomaly equations and modular properties of generalized characters of chiral algebras such as the $W_{1+\infty}$ algebra, that is treated in detail.
We show that in supersymmetric pure Yang Mills theories with arbitrary simple gauge group, the spontaneous breaking of chiral fermionic and bosonic charge by the associated gaugino and gauge boson condensates implies the spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry by the condensate of the underlying Lagrangian density. The explicit breaking of the restricted fermionic charge through the chiral anomaly is deferred to a secondary stage in the elimination of infrared singularities or long range forces.
We solve for the expectation values of chiral operators in supersymmetric U(N) gauge theories with matter in the adjoint, fundamental and anti-fundamental representations. A simple geometric picture emerges involving a description by a meromorphic one-form on a Riemann surface. The equations of motion are equivalent to a condition on the integrality of periods of this form. The solution indicates that all semiclassical phases with the same number of U(1) factors are continuously connected.
We derive the off-shell nilpotent (fermionic) (anti-)BRST symmetry transformations by exploiting the (anti-)chiral superfield approach (ACSA) to Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) formalism for the interacting Abelian 1-form gauge theories where there is a coupling between the U(1) Abelian 1-form gauge field and Dirac as well as complex scalar fields. We exploit the (anti-)BRST invariant restrictions on the (anti-)chiral superfields to derive the fermionic symmetries of our present D-dimensional Abelian 1-form gauge theories. The novel observation of our present investigation is the derivation o…
We study recently proposed chiral higher spin theories - cubic theories of interacting massless higher spin fields in four-dimensional flat space. We show that they are naturally associated with gauge algebras, which manifest themselves in several related ways. Firstly, the chiral higher spin equations of motion can be reformulated as the self-dual Yang-Mills equations with the associated gauge algebras instead of the usual colour gauge algebra. We also demonstrate that the chiral higher spin field equations, similarly to the self-dual Yang-Mills equations, feature an infinite algebra of hidde…
We begin with a brief introduction on N=1 gauge theories, focusing on the importance of the effective superpotential in light of the new techniques to compute it systematically. We then proceed to consider theories for which the Konishi anomaly proves to be enough to solve exactly for the effective superpotential. As an example we study a chiral SO(10) gauge theory, where we also discuss the occurrence of dynamical supersymmetry breaking.
A new set of boundary conditions for string propagators is proposed in this paper. The boundary conditions are parametrized by a complex number $λ$. Under these new boundary conditions, the left-moving and right-moving modes are treated unequally. Thus, we called them chiral string theories. If $λ= -1$, the spectrum of such theory truncates to a finite number, and therefore it becomes a different description of supergravity. We found the spectrum of chiral string theories by requiring that the vertex operators are conformally invariant. In addition, we also calculate the amplitudes for arbitra…
We present a technique to construct, for $D_{m}$ unitary minimal models, the non-chiral fusion rules which determines the operator content of the operator product algebra. Using these rules we solve the bootstrap equations and therefore determine the structure constants of these models. Through this approach we emphasize the role played by some discrete symmetries in the classification of minimal models.
We study half-BPS surface operators in supersymmetric gauge theories in four and five dimensions following two different approaches. In the first approach we analyze the chiral ring equations for certain quiver theories in two and three dimensions, coupled respectively to four- and five-dimensional gauge theories. The chiral ring equations, which arise from extremizing a twisted chiral superpotential, are solved as power series in the infrared scales of the quiver theories. In the second approach we use equivariant localization and obtain the twisted chiral superpotential as a function of the …
Any four-dimensional $\mathcal{N} \geqslant 2$ superconformal field theory possess a protected subsector isomorphic to a two-dimensional chiral algebra \cite{Beem:2013sza}. The goal of these lectures is to provide an introduction to the subject, covering the construction of the chiral algebras, the consequences for four-dimensional physics, as well as a brief summary of recent progress. This is the writeup of the lectures given at the Winter School "YRISW 2020" to appear in a special issue of JPhysA.
A general expression for the four-point function with vanishing total R-charge of anti-chiral and chiral superfields in N=1 superconformal theories is given. It is obtained by applying the exponential of a simple universal nilpotent differential operator to an arbitrary function of two cross ratios. To achieve this the nilpotent superconformal invariants according to Park are focused. Several dependencies between these invariants are presented, so that eight nilpotent invariants and 27 monomials of these invariants of degree d>1 are left being linearly independent. It is analyzed, how terms wi…
We summarize the field-theory/matrix model correspondence for a chiral N=1 model with matter in the adjoint, antisymmetric and conjugate symmetric representations as well as eight fundamentals to cancel the chiral anomaly. The associated holomorphic matrix model is consistent only for two fundamental fields, which requires a modification of the original Dijkgraaf-Vafa conjecture. The modified correspondence holds in spite of this mismatch.
We study a class of four-dimensional N=1 superconformal field theories obtained from the six-dimensional (1,0) theory, on M5-branes on C^2/Z_k orbifold singularity, compactified on a Riemann surface. This produces various quiver gauge theories whose matter contents are chiral. We classify the building blocks associated to pairs-of-pants, and study the gauging of them as the gluing of punctures. The Riemann surface picture makes the duality invariance of the resulting quiver theories manifest: the theories associated to the same Riemann surface flow to the same nontrivial infrared fixed point. …
Two different families of abelian chiral gauge theories on the torus are investigated: the aim is to test the consistency of two-dimensional anomalous gauge theories in the presence of global degrees of freedom for the gauge field. An explicit computation of the partition functions shows that unitarity is recovered in particular regions of parameter space and that the effective dynamics is described in terms of fermionic interacting models. For the first family, this connection with fermionic models uncovers an exact duality which is conjectured to hold in the nonabelian case as well.
We discuss some aspects of the physics of branes in the presence of orientifolds and the corresponding worldvolume gauge dynamics. We show that at strong coupling orientifolds sometimes turn into bound states of orientifolds and branes, and give a worldsheet argument for the flip of the sign of an orientifold plane split into two disconnected parts by an NS fivebrane. We also describe the moduli space of vacua of N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories with symplectic and orthogonal gauge groups, and analyze a set of four dimensional N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories with chiral matter content using…
We construct a first order deformation of the complex structure of the cone over Sasaki-Einstein spaces Y^{p,q} and check supersymmetry explicitly. This space is a central element in the holographic dual of chiral symmetry breaking for a large class of cascading quiver theories. We discuss a solution describing a stack of N D3 branes and M fractional D3 branes at the tip of the deformed spaces.
We calculate within an algebraic Bjorken-Johnson-Low (BJL) method anomalous Schwinger terms of fermionic currents and the Gauss law operator in chiral gauge theories. The current algebra is known to violate the Jacobi identity in an iterative computation. Our method takes the subtleties of the equal-time limit into account and leads to an algebra that fulfills the Jacobi identity. The non-iterative terms appearing in the double commutators can be traced back directly to the projective representation of the gauge group.
Systems of D3-branes at orientifold singularities can receive non-perturbative D-brane instanton corrections, inducing field theory operators in the 4d effective theory. In certain non-chiral examples, these systems have been realized as the infrared endpoint of a Seiberg duality cascade, in which the D-brane instanton effects arise from strong gauge theory dynamics. We present the first UV duality cascade completion of chiral D3-brane theories, in which the D-brane instantons arise from gauge theory dynamics. Chiral examples are interesting because the instanton fermion zero mode sector is to…
We propose a new, chiral description for massive higher-spin particles in four spacetime dimensions, which facilitates the introduction of consistent interactions. As proof of concept, we formulate three theories, in which higher-spin matter is coupled to electrodynamics, non-Abelian gauge theory or gravity. The theories are chiral and have simple Lagrangians, resulting in Feynman rules analogous to those of massive scalars. Starting from these Feynman rules, we derive tree-level scattering amplitudes with two higher-spin matter particles and any number of positive-helicity photons, gluons or …
We consider the minimal chiral Schwinger model, by embedding the gauge noninvariant formulation into a gauge theory following the Batalin-Fradkin-Fradkina-Tyutin point of view. Within the BFFT procedure, the second class constraints are converted into strongly involutive first-class ones, leading to an extended gauge invariant formulation. We also show that, like the standard chiral model, in the minimal chiral model the Wess-Zumino action can be obtained by performing a q-number gauge transformation into the effective gauge noninvariant action.
We study N = 2* theories with gauge group U(N) and use equivariant localization to calculate the quantum expectation values of the simplest chiral ring elements. These are expressed as an expansion in the mass of the adjoint hypermultiplet, with coefficients given by quasi-modular forms of the S-duality group. Under the action of this group, we construct combinations of chiral ring elements that transform as modular forms of definite weight. As an independent check, we confirm these results by comparing the spectral curves of the associated Hitchin system and the elliptic Calogero-Moser system…
Chiral gauge theories in two dimensions with (0,2) supersymmetry are central in the study of string compactifications. Remarkably little is known about generic (0,2) theories. We consider theories with branches on which multiplets with a net gauge anomaly become massive. The simplest example is a relevant perturbation of the gauge theory that flows to the CP(n) model. To compute the effective action, we derive a useful set of Feynman rules for (0,2) supergraphs. From the effective action, we see that the infra-red geometry reflects the gauge anomaly by the presence of a boundary at finite dist…
We study a chiral N=1, U(N) field theory in the context of the Dijkgraaf-Vafa correspondence. Our model contains one adjoint, one conjugate symmetric and one antisymmetric chiral multiplet, as well as eight fundamentals. We compute the generalized Konishi anomalies and compare the chiral ring relations they induce with the loop equations of the (intrinsically holomorphic) matrix model defined by the tree-level superpotential of the field theory. Surprisingly, we find that the matrix model is well-defined only if the number of flavors equals two! Despite this mismatch, we show that the 1/N expa…
We analyze the phase structure of supersymmetric chiral gauge theories with gauge group SU(N), an antisymmetric, and F<N+4 flavors, in the presence of a cubic superpotential. When F=N+3 the theory flows to a superconformal fixed point in the infrared, and new dual descriptions of this theory are uncovered. The theory with odd N admits a self-dual magnetic description. For general N, we find an infinite family of magnetic dual descriptions, characterized by arbitrarily large gauge groups and additional classical global symmetries that are truncated by nonperturbative effects. The infrared dynam…
We study the 6d $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ superconformal field theory with smallest non-Higgsable gauge symmetry $SU(3)$. In particular, we propose new 2d gauge theory descriptions of its self-dual strings in the tensor branch. We use our gauge theories to compute the elliptic genera of the self-dual strings, which completely agree with the partial data known from topological strings. We further study the strings of the $(E_6,E_6)$ conformal matter by generalizing our 2d gauge theories. We also show that anomalies of all our gauge theories agree with the self-dual string anomalies computed by inflow…
For \cal{N}=1 SU(N) SYM theories obtained as marginal deformations of the \cal{N}=4 parent theory we study perturbatively some sectors of the chiral ring in the weak coupling regime and for finite N. By exploiting the relation between the definition of chiral ring and the effective superpotential we develop a procedure which allows us to easily determine protected chiral operators up to n loops once the superpotential has been computed up to (n-1) order. In particular, for the Lunin-Maldacena beta-deformed theory we determine the quantum structure of a large class of operators up to three loop…
The two-dimensional self-dual Chern--Simons equations are equivalent to the conditions for static, zero-energy solutions of the $(2+1)$-dimensional gauged nonlinear Schrödinger equation with Chern--Simons matter-gauge dynamics. In this paper we classify all finite charge $SU(N)$ solutions by first transforming the self-dual Chern--Simons equations into the two-dimensional chiral model (or harmonic map) equations, and then using the Uhlenbeck--Wood classification of harmonic maps into the unitary groups. This construction also leads to a new relationship between the $SU(N)$ Toda and $SU(N)$ chi…
We construct brane configurations leading to chiral four dimensional N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories. The brane realizations consist of intersecting Neveu-Schwarz five-branes and Dirichlet four-branes in non-flat spacetime backgrounds. We discuss in some detail the construction in a C^2/Z_M orbifold background. The infrared theory on the four-brane worldvolume is a four dimensional N=1 SU(N)^M gauge theory with chiral matter representations. We discuss various consistency checks and show that the spectral curves describing the Coulomb phase of the theory can be obtained once the orbifold bra…
We study 2d chiral theories arising from 4d N=4 Super-Yang Mills (SYM) with varying coupling tau. The 2d theory is obtained by dimensional reduction of N=4 SYM on a complex curve with a partial topological twist that accounts for the non-constant tau. The resulting 2d theories can preserve (0,n) with n = 2, 4, 6, 8 chiral supersymmetry, and have a natural realization in terms of strings from wrapped D3-branes in F-theory. We determine the twisted dimensional reduction, as well as the spectrum and anomaly polynomials of the resulting strings in various dimensions. We complement this by consider…
A unique class of local Higher Spin Gravities with propagating massless fields in $4d$ - Chiral Higher Spin Gravity - was first found in the light-cone gauge. We construct a covariant form of the corresponding field equations in all orders, thus completing the previous analysis of arXiv:2204.10285. This result is equivalent to taking the minimal model (in the sense of $L_\infty$-algebras) of the jet-space BV-BRST formulation of Chiral Higher Spin Gravity, thereby, containing also information about counterterms, anomalies, etc.
